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Re: 45 in pespective

Geoff Hart
> Just to put this "45 years" business in perspective, don't
> forget that someone who is currently 45 would have been 33
> or thereabouts when the first PCs hit the office; they
> would have been even younger (in their 20s) when mainframe
> terminals became abundant. So if any problem exists, it
> likely begins much earlier than in one's 40s. FWIW, my
> personal experience is that there are two types of people
> in the context of technology: those who embrace change and
> force themselves to adapt, and those who don't. I've met
> both among my young friends, and both among my parents'
> generation.

Good point. I had my first exposure to computers in 1963 with Texaco Oil
Company. Then more exposure in the Air Force and in college in the late
sixties and early seventies, where I learned to hate them.

Hate turned to like when I got my first PC in about 1981 and then to love
with my first Macintosh in 1984. Now I'm nine years past that magic age of
45 and staying pretty much state of the art with computers.

My 21-year old daughter uses computers no more than she has to, and she
knows a minimal amount about them.

The way things are going, though, I'm not sure knowledge of computers will
be all that important in the future. I suspect office use of computers will
become more and more like we now use the computers in automobiles,
microwave ovens, and dishwashers. Or, to make another comparison, to
operate an automobile in 1910 one had to know a lot about how it worked and
how to repair it on the fly. Today, anyone can drive with virtually no
knowledge at all about how a car works.